Whittaker David
Whittaker David

Уиттакер Дэвид Whittaker David
NZSEE President, Senior Technical Director, Beca Ltd, Christchurch, New Zealand



Publications

Recent Developments in New Zealand in Seismic Isolation, Energy Dissipation and Vibration Control of Structures (2019)
Issue: №4 2019
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Recent activity in the implementation of seismic isolation, energy dissipation and vibration control of structures in New Zealand is summarised. Recent severely damaging earthquakes in New Zealand have left many buildings and infrastructure systems inoperable and not repairable, leading to their demolition. Owners and engineers are now seeking systems that will provide more resilient seismic behaviour. Resilient structures will be able to recover operation and function quickly after a major earthquake compared with conventional structural systems. Earthquake protection technologies now being developed and used to make more seismically resilient structures include seismic isolation and energy dissipation systems. These systems can provide better damage control and repairability of structures.The paper summarises recent projects in New Zealand that have incorporated seismic isolation and energy dissipation and other earthquake protection systems such as dissipative brace systems. A draft New Zealand Guideline for the design of seismic isolation systems for buildings was recently published. The Guideline makes recommendations for how engineers should design isolated buildings to meet performance requirements that will often be well in excess of the minimum requirements of the national building code. Details of the design Guideline are summarised and examples of the design displacement and acceleration demands in various main centres of New Zealand are also given.